A patient injects medicinal heroin, or diacetylmorphine, at Crosstown Clinic in downtown Vancouver, which provides pharmaceutical heroin treatment for people hooked on the opioid. “For me, it’s helpful,” MacDonald said of the changing language around substance use. MacDonald said people who chronically use illicit drugs are now considered to have a substance-use disorder, not an addiction, which is more stigmatizing. Saying that someone has a substance-use disorder rather than calling them an addict is an example of understanding their struggles and needs, she said. “It’s like putting on another set of glasses and suddenly we see the world differently because the language has shifted.”

Source: thestar January 28, 2017 22:41 UTC